Montana Man Kills 3-Year-old Playing Gun Tag - He Forgot the One in the Chamber

A Montana man is facing up to 20 years in prison after he shot and killed a 3-year-old boy in a game of “gun tag.”

Lonato Moran-Allen, 3, was playing with a toy gun Wednesday night when he pretended to shoot 26-year-old Galen Hawk. Hawk told investigators he didn’t know his .380 handgun was loaded when he picked it up and returned a shot, fatally striking the boy. He attempted to do CPR on the boy, but he later died at a nearby hospital

9 comments:

I think he managed to break all of the safety rules along with the carrying while intoxicated thing.

"A 3-year-old Montana boy who died of a bullet wound last week was shot in the back by an intoxicated man who said he didn't think the gun was loaded as they played together, prosecutors said."

"Hawk told investigators that he had been drinking whiskey and alcoholic lemonade prior to the shooting and was "buzzed," charging documents said."He chose to take a handgun ... a .380 handgun, loaded, while he was intoxicated, and pointed it at a child," Lake County Deputy Attorney James Lapotka said Friday during Hawk's initial appearance in Justice Court."

According to this article, Hawk thought the gun was unloaded, because he'd removed the magazine:

Hawk says he pointed his gun at the child in response and pulled the trigger, believing the gun wasn’t loaded because the magazine was in his pocket.

Before the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms became law, and shut these abusive lawsuits down, the Brady Campaign kept trying to sue gun manufacturers who didn't incorporate a "magazine disconnect safety," intended to prevent the gun firing when the magazine was not inserted. Also, no handguns without this "feature" make California's list of "allowed" guns.

The Colorado Springs Police, on the other hand, traded in their magazine disconnect safety-equipped guns, for a model without it, because the magazine disconnect causes a heavier, less smooth trigger pull, and thus less accuracy.

I need to figure out a way to disable that "feature" on my FN Five-seveN (the only gun I own that is burdened with this handicap). I don't like sacrificing accuracy for the promise of consequence-free stupid gun handling, which I don't engage in anyway.